UB24

Chapter 24

The moment she stepped through the door, a wave of heat enveloped her. Her frozen hands and feet began to thaw, and the shock from the icy lake started to fade.

“Go take a hot shower. You’re still shivering.”

As soon as they found a room, Hyunha switched on the bathroom light. His gaze slid away from Youngin’s face, falling somewhere uncertain. Realizing where his eyes had gone, Youngin clutched her towel tightly to her chest. Only now did she become self-conscious of the way her wet clothes clung to every curve of her body.

A lukewarm silence filled the space. Even as Youngin shrank back, Hyunha never looked away—watching her to the very end.

“Wash up. I’ll be waiting.”

Gently but firmly guided, Youngin stepped into the bathroom. A faint clacking noise reached her ears, and she realized it was her teeth chattering. She quickly turned on the hot water. Steam soon clouded the shower booth, the milky glass resembling the fog swirling in her mind.

As the heat seeped into her chilled body, her thoughts became sharper. The conversation she’d overheard earlier… Lim Kwonho insisting that Hyunha was behind it all. The image of Choi Hyunha, cigarette burning in hand, threatening the man downstairs. The fire that followed soon after.

The cold, distant gaze Hyunha had cast down at her from the mansion garden… and the look of a predator watching from behind iron bars.

When she emerged, dressed in fresh clothes, Hyunha was lounging peacefully on the sofa. Swallowing hard, Youngin stepped toward him.

“Lim Kwonho said it was you.”

The words lacked context, yet Hyunha didn’t seem the least bit confused.

“He said you were the reason he got on the boat. The reason he fell in.”
“Hmm. Did he drag my dad into it again?”

His tone suggested he’d been expecting this. Youngin hesitated only briefly before confessing:

“He said your dad almost killed someone.”

Hyunha’s lips curved into a crooked smile.

“I told you my dad was famous for being a psycho, didn’t I?”

With that, he tugged her down beside him on the sofa, speaking lightly as if discussing the weather.

“After he beat someone so badly they ended up in a vegetative state, even my grandparents gave up on him. Locked him away in the mansion under the excuse of ‘convalescence.’ When he died, they were so guilty they started fawning over me.”

Youngin swallowed. To beat someone that badly… wasn’t that attempted murder? Maybe that was why Hyunha’s relatives seemed to quietly avoid him.

“Do you think I’m messed up too, just because my dad is?”

Youngin met his gaze. She remembered vividly how much it had reassured her when Hyunha had once said, ‘Whatever my dad did, it has nothing to do with you.’ She wanted to give him the same comfort in return.

“No. You and your dad are two different people.”

Hyunha lowered his head.

“A lot of people say we look exactly alike.”

His face was hidden, voice stripped of any inflection. Even so, Youngin saw herself reflected in that moment.

He leaned his head against her shoulder, and she let the weight rest there comfortably. Being this close to a boy didn’t make her flinch—not with him. Her heartbeat began to quicken, her chest swelling with each breath.

“When you saved Lim Kwonho earlier… did you give him mouth-to-mouth?”

The question was so abrupt she laughed.

“Why are you asking that out of nowhere?”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then your first kiss is still intact.”

The unexpected phrase made her freeze.

“What kind of logic is that? And how would you even know if I’ve had my first kiss?”
“You shrink away whenever a guy so much as looks at you. There’s no way you’ve kissed anyone.”

She tried to retort, but Hyunha pressed on before she could steer the conversation elsewhere.

“I haven’t either.”

That stopped her cold.

“…Why?”

A boy like Choi Hyunha, with girls following him everywhere—even among his relatives—should have had no shortage of opportunities.

“I just never felt like it.”

It made sense. If Hyunha didn’t want it, no one could force it.

“But right now, I do.”

Before she could process the meaning, he caught her chin and turned her face toward him. Their eyes met, his lips close enough to touch. She could read him easily this time—his gaze held unmistakable desire.

Her heart thudded hard in her chest.

“Isn’t it fair? My first kiss, your first kiss.”
“That’s not fair—it’s not some kind of trade.”

She tried to sound calm, but her breath was shallow, her pulse frantic. She looked anywhere but at him.

“I’m confessing to you right now.”

His words pinned her in place as effectively as any physical hold. Slowly, his lips inched closer. She could have turned away—but she didn’t. Just as she thought she felt the ghost of his touch—

Knock, knock.

The sound sliced between them. Hyunha didn’t move, holding the moment a few seconds longer until the knocking came again.

“Choi Hyunha. Are you in there?”

Only then did he rise, and Youngin released the breath she’d been holding. Her lips tingled despite nothing having touched them.

When he opened the door, his aunt—Lim Kwonho’s mother—stood there. Her disapproving gaze swept over the room until it landed on Youngin, brows arching.

“Her.”

She gestured at Youngin but handed a bundle of clothes to Hyunha instead.

“Have her change into this. Better than those wet clothes.”
“You came all the way here just for that? Youngin already has something to wear. You could’ve told the staff.”
“I also came to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“Kwonho wasn’t thinking clearly earlier. It was a mistake.”

Her explanation was stiff and perfunctory, clearly delivered on someone else’s orders.

Kwonho stepped forward, one cheek swollen and red. Youngin instantly recognized the sound she’d heard before entering the villa. He stared at her with unreadable intensity until she turned away.

“It happens.”

Hyunha tilted his head.

“He couldn’t control himself when he was drunk in England either, right?”

Kwonho’s shoulders tensed. His mother intervened sharply.

“That’s enough. I know you and Kwonho haven’t been getting along lately, but watch your words.”
“Then maybe he should watch his first.”

The tension simmered until his aunt cut it off.

“Your grandfather wants to see you. Both of you. Now.”
“It’s late.”
“You know how he is. If I’m here at this hour, it’s because he insisted.”

Hyunha glanced back at Youngin. He clearly didn’t want to go—and she knew it was because of her.

“I’ll be back soon.”

She waved him off, and when the door closed behind him, silence settled in. Her fingers toyed with the soft fabric of the clothes, and she sighed—though even she couldn’t tell what the sigh meant.

The midday sun warmed the bedspread. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Youngin gazed out the window. Aside from the chaos of the previous day, things had been quiet.

The grand New Year’s Eve party had fizzled after Kwonho’s incident. She’d heard whispers that the chairman and his wife had been deeply displeased.

Her fingers drifted to her lips. The ghost of his breath lingered there.

The first day of the year didn’t feel any different. The calendar had changed, but nothing else had. She thought of the small amount she’d saved from her part-time jobs—enough to maybe rent a place near her future university.

Her father…?

She shook her head, banishing the thought. The house they’d lived in had burned down—waiting in this town meant nothing. If he turned up, the police would contact her.

Tap.

The soft sound broke her thoughts.

Tap.

Again. She looked toward the source and saw a small stone bounce off the windowpane.

When she leaned out and opened the window, Hyunha was below, waving.